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Amateur Hour
There are a lot of different ways to go about usurping democratic governance.
One blueprint popular on the American right is the Viktor Orban plan, which entails the stealthy, furtive arrogation of a nation's institutions, a slow asphyxiation of the free press and the quashing of dissent through subtle means which make protest more trouble than it's worth. That's "illiberal democracy," and it requires patience on the part of the usurper.
If you're impatient -- or if you've run out of patience
Trump may have learned this lesson: Send the military to close down the legislature before making the martial law order public. Maybe Yoon tried and the Korean military refused to follow the order until Yoon went public.
If Trump does not declare a “national emergency” on Day 1 and issue an order that describes new powers for various federal agencies (and perhaps those assisting such agencies), I’ll be surprised. He may even try to criminalize various legal behaviors, even though he lacks the power to do so. Yoon’s mistakes will encourage trump to keep his most coercive plans secret until the last moment.
You are describing an overview of Project 2025. Shock is part of the plan. I read somewhere I believe that 3,000 executive order are ready on day one. The courts will never get to the bottom of that pile. I agree with you about decisiveness. I pity those in power in Washington these days. They are faced with a bully that will bully them for the next 4 years.
I agree with these pages, Trump is an imbecile. However an imbecile who has surrounded himself with intelligent capable evil people. Bannon, Miller and Flynn are at least three that will likely win more voice to influence the thoughts in Trump’s head. This rather than as you have suggested, listen to thoughts that are resident in Trump’s head.
The thought I read today from a commentator that Carlson is calling the nomination shots indicates the cabinet nominations are being called from Putin’s villa. Carlson is going back to Moscow, possibly to get another load of instructions soon to deliver to Donnie.
Yeah, but ultimately, you have to be a Saddam to be a Saddam. I don’t think those people have it in them. The Orban plan can work, but it’s going to be a lot harder in America than it was in Hungary.
I’d do a study on the secretive Council for National Policy, a coalition of Christian nationalists and right-wing activists. They’re going to do a lot of damage.
Again: It depends on your definition of “a lot of damage.” Do you mean the institution of an Orban/Erdogan-style system or do you mean the “dictatorship” that some people claim’s imminent. Obviously, I abhor Trump as a choice for president, and I dislike his sycophants even more than I do him, but I haven’t come across anyone yet willing to suggest that any of those people are prepared to do any of the things you have to do to institute an actual, overnight dictatorship. If you want to do that, people have to be scared of you personally, and not just a little bit, but a lot, and in a very direct way. If you look at the body language of Putin’s subordinates when they’re seated at those long tables with him, it’s a different sort of thing than what you observe among Turkish lawmakers when Erdogan’s carrying on about one of his conspiracy theories. Nobody’s scared that Trump might pull out a pistol at a cabinet meeting and shoot the guy sitting across the table from him on national television. Nobody worries that Vivek Ramaswamy might walk into his first DOGE meeting, slip on a pair of OJ gloves and strangle someone to death right in front of everyone just to prove a point. That’s the kind of fear you need if you’re going be the kind of leader Trump is in his own childlike imagination and in the worst nightmares of his critics. He can — and probably will — do a lot of very scary stuff, but there will never (ever) be a time when people are scared of Trump the man, nor any of the people around him, the same way North Koreans are scared of Kim, Russians of Putin, Saudis of MBS and so on. Trump and his folks just aren’t those kinds of people. (Ironically in this context, Dick Cheney is.)
Is it possible that Yoon was drunk when he issued the order?